REDD Policy, Finance and National Implementation

Value for Nature’s Jan Fehse has led on or has materially contributed to over 50 consulting assignments with specific relevance to forests in climate markets, finance and policy. He was also involved in several carbon credit purchase and sales deals from forestry projects. Below is a small selection of relevant experience to the specified topic.

REDD policy, finance and national implementation

Scoping for REDD+ investment opportunities in Ghana for the Forest Investment Program (FIP) (Oct 2013 – Feb 2014). Value for Nature’s Jan Fehse is the Team Leader on this project for the International Finance Corporation, which manages part of the FIP funds for Ghana with the objective to leverage private investment through concessional lending and risk-sharing arrangements. The assignment is to scope out investment opportunities in REDD-related sectors (forestry, agriculture, ecotourism, among others) and to analyse their feasibility for FIP investment according to environmental, social and economic criteria. Value for Nature is being sub-contracted by LTS International.

Identification of combined climate change mitigation and adaptation options in the land use sector in Malawi, focusing in on key watersheds (Nov 2011- June 2013). Value for Nature’s role in this World Bank funded project is that of climate change mitigation and adaptation specialist within a team lead by LTS International. Its main tasks are the identification of a portfolio of activities that contribute to both adaptation and mitigation and that could be successfully brought through carbon offset certification, as well as building capacity in the Malawi governments on these topics and national REDD implementation in general.

Feasibility study for the design of a REDD bond (2010). Value for Nature formed part of a team led by E2 Advisors that designed and studied the feasibility of a bond issuance, underwritten by developed-country governments, that could finance REDD and forest restoration activities in a Brazilian municipality, with the aim of replicability across the country. The work was funded by the UK Department for International Development.

Designing a financial architecture for REDD in Ecuador (2010 – 2011). With EcoSecurities, Jan Fehse led a consortium on this project, which was funded by KfW for the Ecuadorian Ministry for the Environment (MAE). Together with two Ecuadorian partner organizations we conducted an analysis of REDD financing sources and recipients, including their criteria and modalities, as well as of the relevant Ecuadorian legal framework. This led to the formulation of various options for the architecture of a financial mechanism for receiving and channeling REDD funding in Ecuador. In the second phase of the consultancy the team fully designed one of the options so that it can be operationalized by the MAE.

Paper on private sector needs in the design of a REDD policy scheme, including implications for the Readiness Phase (2008). Chatham House commissioned this paper for the UK Government’s Eliasch Review on the REDD post-2012 scheme, discussing how private sector engagement in REDD could be harnessed and what would be needed to allow this in terms of governance preparation and capacity in deforestation countries. Jan Fehse was the lead author.